Tell US Reps to UN: Stop Attacking Women's Rights!

[forintegrity]

Email From CODEPINK Women for Peace (kinda long):

While women around the world are battling for their lives and their rights, New York City is heating up for the ten year review of the Beijing Platform for Action on the Status of Women. The Beijing Platform is the strongest and most complete international document on women’s rights.

Not surprisingly, the Bush administration plans to undermine the Beijing Platform, displaying its usual contempt for international law and women’s rights. They want to chip away at the Beijing Platform, and are trying to get other countries to let them do it.

Just yesterday, U.S. representatives to the U.N. unveiled offensive and retrogressive language on abortion rights to include in the U.N.’s official comment on the Beijing Platform ten-year review. Almost every other country involved in the Beijing Platform review is trying to mobilize opposition to the U.S.’s proposed language, but ***American women also need to act now! ***

FAX OR EMAIL U.S. REPRESENTATIVES TO THE U.N. TODAY! Tell them to stop attacking global women’s rights!

Today, right now, you can tell the U.S. to stop attacking women's rights. Send a fax or email to Mark Lagon and Carl Fox, the main negotiators for the United States. Tell them that you oppose the U.S. amendment on abortion, and that you want to see the U.S. support and implement the Beijing Platform for Action!

FAX OR EMAIL:
Dr. Mark Lagon, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International
Organization Affairs
Email: [e-mail] Fax: [phone]


Mr. Carl Fox, Adviser for Social Affairs, United States Mission to the UN
Email: [e-mail] Fax: [phone]

Get sample text online at
www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Letter.shtml


MARCH 5 – 8: JOIN US OUTSIDE THE UN OR IN YOUR OWN COMMUNITY FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!

Join us next week to continue to stand up to U.S. While the Bush administration continues its attempts to undermine international women’s rights at the U.N., we will honor International Women's Day and show our solidarity with women everywhere, joining with women from Ramallah to Stockholm, from Nairobi to Lima, in celebrating the Global Week of Action for Women's Rights and demanding an end to war, poverty and discrimination.

In New York City, there are plans for several vibrant, loud and festive days to amplify women's voices for peace and justice and take a stand against the Bush Administration's lies and unending wars. Come to New York City to take action and to build the women's anti-war movement--or organize for women's rights in your own community! Details about the events below are at
www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_March_8th.shtml


MARCH 5-8, 2005 EVENTS IN NEW YORK CITY

SATURDAY, MARCH 5: CODEPINK CONVERGENCE
4-6 p.m., Crobar, 530 W. 28th St. (Chelsea) between 10th and 11th Aves.
Gather with CODEPINK activists from all over the country for a meet and greet, and get detailed information about the week's actions and volunteer
opportunities. RSVP: [e-mail]


SUNDAY, MARCH 6: CODEPINK ACTIVIST TRAINING CAMP
8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Barnard College at 117th St. and Broadway
Join powerful female activists for a day of interactive training that will
include workshops about creative protest, media outreach, non-violence, diversity, and youth activism. $10-25 sliding scale (your generous contribution makes more scholarships available) For more information, a schedule, and to register, go to: http://codepink.kintera.org/training


SUNDAY, MARCH 6: WOMEN'S WRITES: SLAMMING MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT!
7:30-9:30 p.m., Minor Latham Playhouse, Barnard College
CODEPINK and Sacred Slam (www.sacredslam.com) join together for an evening of poetic performances that honor the female journey. Bear witness to and challenge the ideas of "sexism," "equality," and "feminism" through the work of featured artists including Magdalena Gomez, Morley, Queen GodIs, Ellen O'Grady, and more! $10-12, No one turned away for lack of funds.

MONDAY, MARCH 7: DEMAND WOMEN'S RIGHTS EVERYWHERE!
Attend events at the UN, and participate in actions and events throughout New York City that are being organized by CODEPINK and other women’s groups.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8: “WOMEN DEMAND PEACE AND EQUALITY” MARCH AND RALLY!
1-3 p.m. Meet at the N.Y. Public Library, corner of 42nd St. and Fifth Ave.
Join us for an International Women's Day March and Rally! Stand in solidarity with the women of New York and the world against war and militarism, and in support of women's rights! Meet at the NY Public Library at the corner of 42nd street and 5th Ave and march to the UN at 46th St. and 1st Ave. Rally at 2 p.m. at the U.N., sponsored by a coalition of NYC women’s and progressive groups.

Sign up online at www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_March_8th.shtml to let us know you're coming so we can keep you up to date on all the details. And please let us know if you need housing or if you're available to volunteer.

CAN'T MAKE IT TO NEW YORK?

There are lots of ways to take action for women's rights internationally from wherever you are:

*Sign the National Women's Studies Association's petition http://ase.tufts.edu/womenstudies/newsa/beijing%2010%20petition/index.html in support of the Beijing Platform for Action and urging the US government to reaffirm it. The petition is written to target academics and students, but is open to anyone.

*Spread the word! Too few women know about the Beijing +10 Review, the Beijing Platform for Action, and international law on women’s rights. Educate yourself www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_March_8th.shtml#background and then educate other women in your community: write editorials in your local papers; forward emails about Beijing +10 to listservs you're on. Make sure this review can't happen in silence!

*Organize an International Women's Day event in your community! It can be as simple as a 'women for peace' vigil or as complex as a march and rally through your town. It can be a celebration of women's art and power, or it can be a meeting with your city council to talk about the need for women's programs. Bring women's issues to the table in your community. Bring International Women's Day home!

For women's rights everywhere,
Andrea, Ariel, Claire, Dana, Emily, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae, Tiffany
www.codepinkalert.org February 25, 2005

[struggle4progress]

1. U.S. Wants UN to Declare That Abortion Is Not a Right

Mon Feb 28, 2005 07:17 PM ET

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Bush administration insisted on Monday that a U.N. document on women's equality make clear that abortion is not a fundamental right and accused activists of trying to distort the issue.

Even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his opening speech to a high-level review session of the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women, came in for criticism for using the term "sexual rights" which the U.S. delegates said was undefined.

"There is no fundamental right to abortion," said Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. delegate to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which is running the review. <snip>

But, to the dismay of European and some Latin American delegates, the United States submitted amendments, declaring that the Beijing conference did not create "new international human rights" and did not include the right to abortion. <snip>

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7764597